Angels and Demons
by AngelicRage0
Summary: With the Sonic Team disbanded shortly after the events of Flashback, Rage is left alone to dismantle the iron grip Eggman has developed over Station Square before he takes over the rest of Mobius. With Sonic dead or MIA, Knuckles severely crippled from the fight with Nitas, and the Master Emerald still incomplete, the future looks dark. ON HOLD. WRITER'S BLOCK
1. RIDE THE LIGHTNING

**A/N: Rated M for language, violence, gore, and references not suitable for the younger audiences.**

**Disclaimer: All products belong to their respective owners.**

**Angels and Demons**

**RIDE THE LIGHTNING**

**Outside Tails's Workshop…**

**Rage The Hedgehog's POV**

Three years later...

"Where am I?" his thoughts seemed to echo; unless they were words….He couldn't tell.

"Am I, dead...?"

"Is this hell...?"

He could just barely hear the sound of voices coming from above. A stinging sensation struck his chest and he instinctively reached up to grab it only to be stopped by...wood?

Instantly, he put two and two together. "I'm in a coffin?"

_**FLASH**_

Rage fought back with everything he had. But it was hardly helping. Nitas returned every punch with one equally as strong. Blood dripped down Rage's teeth, the feral energy explicitly present in his body language. He literally shook with fury, as white as the fire that engulfed him. The flames licked his fur and curved under the force of his will. Using the Master Emerald's energy, Rage cried out as his power level rose once more. Nitas was hopelessly outmatched now. Nitas glowed and radiated a black and dark energy, whereas Rage, expelled deep red energy, both breathing heavily from their duel.

A stone fist with long, sharp, multiple points jutting out of the knuckles—rocketed from his side, crashing into Nitas' stomach. Rage struck him again, this time in the chin with his elbow, and followed up by whip lashing his arm, by which his fist collided with his cheek, followed by a series of vicious dagger-like attacks, in which Rage jabbed his fingers hard into Nitas's solar plexus, and ending with a spinning kick to the face. Nitas hurtled uncontrollably towards the sun, but Rage moved at lightning fast speed and reached it first. Nitas's head came closer, and Rage brought his foot up hard.

Again he beat Nitas to the front and flipped around, bringing his elbow down on his enemy's forehead. Once more, Rage reached the front and gave a solid roundhouse, sending his counterpart spinning through dead space. Nitas had only a split-second to recover his orientation before Rage was on him again. The hero came with his fist drawn back for his next blow. Rage dug another punch into Nitas' cheek and sent him hurtling back.

Electric bonds appeared, binding the evildoer where he was, as Rage prepared for his final blow. "…this, this is for Scarlet." The gruesome image of his girlfriend lying on the ground, precious life liquid draining quickly from her wounded body tugged at his heart. And for an instant, an instant only, his heart turned black as ice; But that moment was all he needed. Nitas tried to talk his way out, "Go ahead!" he taunted, "Do it!" Nitas grinned manically. "But remember, I'm a part of you. If you kill me, you destroy half of yourself!" Nitas said still grinning.

"Well that's a risk I'm willing to take." Rage said in a chilling tone, that same determined look clinging to his face. He was all soldier now-cold, heartless, calculating. "Adios, Nitas The Dark Hedgehog." He said with grim finality. A Katana and double-edged sword materialized in his hands. Rage electrified the blades, and sped towards his dark counterpart, the blades sparked with energy, and the last thing seen was a bright flash followed by an explosion. The sound appeared to echo, throughout all space and time.

**Immediately following the flash…**

_** "I stared back towards Earth, it looked dry. The water had disappeared completely. I felt my life and energy drain me, the Chaos Emeralds heading back towards Earth, suddenly it began to feel very cold. I felt I was freezing in space, like a giant icicle, my body grew rigid, blood stopped flowing, I closed my eyes, watching the last of the stars pass by, and the sun disappear from sight, it was finally over."**_

_** I open my eyes, I see clouds. I open them again, I see my brothers. I open them once more…and I see my sister, Amy, and she looks sad. Why is she sad?**_

_**I strain my neck to where she is looking.**_

_** …Ahh. That's why. A blur of white glinting off the passing light sources as they rushed together in a pair of parallel lines. The white blurs of coats from what I would guess would be other Mobians trained in dealing with such medical situations. "Don't be sad Amy. Be happy. You look so beautiful when you're happy. Be happy please? Smile, just smile, one more time…For me…"**_

_**FLASH**_

"_Of course…"_ he remembered.

*Crunch*

What was that?

*Crunch, crunch, crunch,*

A pinhole of light started to poke through. Then another, and another; Soon they consumed the darkness, leaving nothing but blurry white light against the hedgehog's eyelids. And just like that, it was gone…snuffed out by the returning darkness.

"What the hell?" he thought.

More voices.

It sounded like one of them was crying. Rage silenced his thoughts for a moment so to hear better. It was definitely female. "Amy..." he assumed. "Amy!" he cried, pounding against the hard wood lid of the casket. "Amy it's me! I'm alive!" Desperately, he tried to push open the lid, using his knees to try and lift the lower half as well. "Damn it! What the fuck is going on here?" the hedgehog shouted in anger. Pressing his hand against the wood again, he tried to burn a hole through to the exterior, but could not seem to summon the ability.

He tried freezing the lid with ice to weaken the wood and break through. At one point he thought he was getting somewhere, but after a few fruitless shots to the varnish he realized that it was just chilly. The hedgehog sighed in disappointment, for whatever reason he couldn't use his powers. Throwing his fists up again in frustration he left minor insignificant indentations in the laminate of the wood, not even getting past that, which only angered him more. "God-fucking DAMN IT!" he cried, vexed at his position.

_ "You kiss your mother with that mouth?" _came another voice, only this one sounded like it was lying right next to him. "Who's there?" Rage called out, searching the vast coffin for the owner. Angel dismissed him casually, _"It's me jackoff." _remembering the little conscience he hardly listened to during his last grudge match in the sky, _'A-Angel?' _Rage recognized his own voice now, and felt laughably stupid. _"Attagirl."_ he teased, _"I take it you're looking for some answers…?"_ With a raspy voice, the ex-corpse replied, albeit bitterly. _"Yes, answers would be nice."_

"_You're kinda bitchy today aren't you?"_

"_I'm in a box."_

"_A fancy bo-"_

"_-A box."_

_"Heh-heh, you're a jack in the box." _Angel chuckled. Rage didn't find it so hilarious, _'funny how I still have room to reach down an-"_

"_Alright, alright! Let's get a move on! For starters, you're in a coffin."_

_'No shit.'_

_'A coffin is also known as a casket, which is used to bur-'_

_'Ugh..dude!'_

"_Look, you blew an iron prison door off its hinges, this shouldn't be that hard."_

Rage thought back to his prison break for a moment, but remembered his current situation. '_There's just one problem._' he replied. '_I'm not strong enough. It seems I've lost all my powers._' Angel sighed in annoyance. '_Fine, I'll help you out here but I would advise against it._' he cautioned.

'_I would advise you just go with it. I really don't want to spend an eternity with YOU as my only companion._' the ex-corpse retorted. '_Aw, it's not that bad. And hey, What's that they say about solitary confinement? Oh yeah, Just a man and his thoughts. His endless, endless thoughts...' _he argued back. _'Who says that? Name one person.'_ Angel stuttered unable to provide a reputable answer. _ And if you don't, I'll spend all eternity singing Smack That over and over again!_' Angel cringed at the prospect of a tone deaf, hedgehog trying to belt out a lyric. '_Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you-_'

'-_Great thanks._' Rage began punching and clawing his way out with unorganized ambition. _"You know, I've only been..."Conscious?" for a minute and already I'm starting to miss that virgin mouth of yours."_ he grinned. _"I'm starting to miss being dead."_ the entity bantered back. Like a blast of wind, he punched through the decaying hardwood, sending splinters through the fist sized hole. Almost immediately, dirt began to amass in his mouth catching him by surprise. _"Shit!" _he cried out. Spitting out the dirt and clenching his mouth shut, the hedgehog breathed through his nose as he continued to make the hole larger and larger.

_A distant memory began to draw itself up from the roots of his brain._

_**FLASH**_

"What's up Volt?"

The hedgehog in question kept his eyes fixated on the flickering screen before him, not moving or blinking. If not for the barely noticeable rise and fall of his chest, along with the thin dribble of drool running from the corner of his mouth Rage would assume he was dead.

"Mindfreak."was his reply."This dude's crazy, he's about to bury himself alive and then dig his way out."

The light blue hedgehog scoffed at the simple parlor trick. "Tsk, that's nothing, I could do that."

A laugh emitted from the lethargic hedgehog. "Well, with an attitude like that, you just might have to."

Rage watched for a few more minutes as rain began to fall on the grave, packing the dirt and turning it into muck. A clock appeared on the screen showing the elapsed time Criss had been buried. The expressions the spectators wore were nothing but fear. After what apparently had been well over forty minutes, a clump of dirt finally began to stir. Eventually, rising from underneath was a muddy finger, followed by four others. A moment later, an entire arm emerged from the grave site, connected to a head.

"Looks like Criss did his homework." Volt announced.

"This is stupid." Rage grunted, "You're stupid." the lime green hedgehog increased the volume on the channel as a response. A clear indication that the conversation was over.

_**FLASH**_

Rage scratched and clawed, covered in dried blood that had formed into crusts. Mud caved in around him, smothering his body and crushing his lungs. He must have been digging for about at least half an hour. The dirt/muck seemed to be fighting back; throwing every natural obstacle against him. The earthy smell around him had a metallic tinge to it, making him scrunch his nose in disgust. "Most likely from the water seeping in." he thought. It was only after the initial thought that he realized it was raining. And it was after **that** thought, that he realized it had been for quite a while for the mud beneath the topsoil to be soaking wet already.

Rage continued to scrape away the mud, but the more he dug, the more it kept piling in and constricting him. He felt like a clamp was crushing his bones. The mud that fell through slipped into the new cuts in his fingers and knuckles, stinging them all over.

The will to survive suddenly grew stronger with the rush of all the familiar faces he would see. Finally, he would be able to have deep conversations with Shadow again; to be able to watch Tails as he steadily worked on his machines, inquiring every now and then about what this did or that, not really remembering what he said, but just so he would feel proud to share his knowledge; to spar with Knuckles and joke about how Sonic never took off his shoes or how he would cuddle with them at night when he was in bed.

Amy…

How he missed her. And Scarlet of—

-oh, right.

For a moment the faces of his friends and family disappeared along with his will to live. But he still wanted it for whatever reason; despite that he felt like dying all over again.

Still he climbed and he climbed, until finally he broke through, bathing in the fresh air that greeted him.

There was a very light stink in the air from the earthworms crawling out of their burrows. The sky was blocked out by clouds, which could only barely be seen when a bolt of lightning cracked across the firmament, but he knew it was late in the afternoon; right around the turn of two.

The ground was covered in an eerie mist, and the rain…it continued to fall, drenching the undead hero in its beads of liquid glass. It congratulated him for succeeding. The entire landscape, wherever he was, was wet and dark. Like something straight out of a movie. He couldn't determine where the ground he was laying on ended and where it began. But it looked strangely familiar, excluding the barren wasteland appearance it now held. Everything was gray. And only a few patches of grass were present. Another bolt of lightning struck, and against the light he recognized immediately where he was.

Reaching with a muddy hand, he dug his fingers into the earth and turned himself over so that he was face up. He breathed heavily, exhausted from his ordeal. His chest rose and fell as he felt the dryness of three years worth of thirst line his throat. This whole thing was throwing him out of perspective.

What happened? Where was he? Why was he so weak?

He couldn't remember anything, save for how he died.

"God," he coughed. "I should have stayed dead." he joked.

Ultimately, he decided that after such an ordeal, much needed rest was the most reasonable thing to do. Given that he clearly wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon, he dragged himself to the side of a rocky cliff and rested against the wall for support, ignoring the soreness in his arms and legs and not paying much care for the fact that it was still raining.

**Dream Sequence**

Everything was black as night. The only visible thing was a lone hedgehog standing in the darkness.

"Seven…" came what sounded like a voice. Rage turned this way and that in search of the owner but he couldn't locate the source.

"Seven…"

Rage turned face forward again to find a giant set of slot machine spinners reading, "BAR" all the way across. As if merely looking at them was enough to get them going, they began spinning rapidly. The first ended with a loud thud and was accompanied by the number Seven. The second one followed suit in decidedly the same manner. Then the third slot followed. But the slot began a loud cracking sound as it came alive once more. The third slot rotated dreadfully slow. Rage instinctively reached out to aid it when the "Seven" had turned to a skull with flesh eyes and a bowie knife lodged in the cranium. The jaw was set to mimic a human screaming in agony…he couldn't imagine why…

A snake coiled itself in, out, and around the skull. Slime dripped from its menacing body as it created poison green puddles.

"Ssssevennn…"

Rage must have missed something, because the third slot had disappeared along with its counterparts, leaving only the skull and all its surrealism. Looking up to see the eyes; even though they dangled loosely from their sockets and kept redirecting their gaze repeatedly, they had somewhat focused their glare on the miniature being in front of them.

"Seven, seven beings, seven meanings, seven strengths..."

The snake curled up beneath the floating skull, rearing its head with its mouth wide open. A blackened heart presented itself from its mouth, flopping down in front of the hedgehog with a splat. Droplets of blood spattered themselves across the floor, a few of them landing on the hedgehog, who flinched in disgust. The serpent then regurgitated something else.

Or someone else…

It was Sonic…

"What do you want Sonic?" instantly he was filled with an unprovoked hatred for the hero.

"Change..." he replied. "Change what?" Now the hedgehog was curious. "Time." Sonic stated. "Four deaths. One in the past, one in the present, one in the future, one that wasn't stopped."

His voice made the hedgehog's skin tingle in suspicion but he scratched it absent-mindedly.

A patch of flesh fell from his arm. "What the-" Rage gazed at the piece, stupefied. The flesh continued to drop to the floor in clumps of skin, blood, and fur. Rage dug his fingers into his flesh, he wanted to stop but couldn't. His body was moving on its own. The pain of flesh being ripped from his body was more than excruciating. It started from the arms, and then the face, the body and legs soon followed. "What the hell?!" he cried. His hands were covered in thick red liquid. Rage looked up, and immediately regretted it. "Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!" she shouted. "Scarlet?"

"DIIEE!" her head rotated on an axis. Her eyes were pools of blood. Tears of the same liquid trickled down and the wound from the bullet Nitas had shot her with was leaking with the substance as well. Rage backed away from the specter, desperate to escape, but was soon met with a searing jolt of pain all along his back. "AAHHH!" he cried in agony, a wall of fire prevented him from going anywhere. His entire back was covered in skin which was completely fried.

The flames eventually subsided to find another ghost of his girlfriend approaching from that direction as well. Rage turned another direction and wasn't more then two steps when another wall of flames emerged and scarred his face. Rage stumbled around as the walls emerged and burned him repeatedly. Finally he collapsed on the ground as the pain finally went away. When he opened his eyes he noticed red markings against the unforgiving darkness. He stood up, realizing he was stuck inside a circle.

A ring of fire…

Ghosts from all four directions began closing in, each taking on distressed expressions. They all crossed the threshold at once, closing the gap between him and them. Immediately the one in front of him clung to his body in a desperate manner. "Rage!" she cried, "Why did you do it Rage?!" tears traced a trail down her cheeks. "Why didn't you save me?!"

"Why did you let me die?!"

"Why didn't you stop him?!" she shrieked. The others grabbed onto him as well. "Why didn't you save us?" she begged, "Save us…" they drawled, all the voices were blending together, crying their own pleas of distress. "Save us!" they cried, "Why didn't you save us?!" they cried, "Why did you do it?!" Rage backed away further, finding himself uncharacteristically frightened by her tortured image. "I-I didn't mean too!" he stammered, frantically trying break free of her grip; but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't, they were holding on with an unnatural strength. "YOU let me die!" she screamed as anger quickly replaced sorrow.

"It's YOUR fault! YOU KILLED ME!" she bellowed, shoving her index finger in his face and chest with each word, letting them burst from her joint and burrowing into his heart by the ton. "I-It's not my fault, I swear!" Rage backed up further, stepping outside the circle. "I didn't do it!" Scarlet shouted once more at the top of her lungs, "MURDERER!" and then she burst into flames as the circle came alit with fire, engulfing her completely.

Rage watched her cry out in pain as her mouth contorted in a gaping misshapen circle. Her incisors glinted against the flames, and her body seemed to collapse in on itself, trying to avoid the inevitable death. It all happened so fast that when it was all over her body lay unconscious on the ground, her clothes were tattered and torn from the flames which left scratches and burns on her fur. Instinctively he ran over to the specter and cradled her in his arms. "Scarlet, please, Save your energy…"

The hedgehog watched the scene unfold before his eyes, everything up till the point were he fell from space, he looked back down from the falling replica to see a sweaty Tails and battle-torn Amy running east toward Station Square. "Guys, over here!" he shouted, "Help us!" but the images faded, clearly running to assess a more urgent situation. Rage looked back down but Scarlet was gone, leaving him alone again, in the dark, on his knees, to cry in his misery. His spirit as damp, and black as he himself.

**End Dream Sequence**

"Plip…plop…plip, plip, plip."

"Ugh…"

"Wake up Sleeping Beauty, you've got work to do."

"Shut up Angel." Rage groaned.

_'I didn't say that._' Angel replied.

"Well then who-"

Rage looked up in front of him to see the God of Destruction looming over him; for a second he thought he was about to be re-buried. "C-Chaos?" he choked. "Why are you here?" Rage scrambled to his feet, preparing himself for a fight. He wasn't sure if he was still dreaming or not but he was half hoping he wasn't. Though he didn't really know which one was worse. What the creature said next didn't make him any less wary.

"To enlighten you."

**Well that's chapter one re-done. Next chapter will be re-edited AGAIN. so don't expect the story to go anywhere until then. I'm fleshing out my storyline so I'm not going to be posting too fast, but then, when have I ever done that? I'm starting to have second thoughts about the OC Fight story, I'm not really generating any good ideas for it and it seems kind of pointless to write. Sorry all, I know those who submitted their entries were excited to see it finished but I just lost steam on that one. I'm going to be focusing on this story primarily and I might start trying to do Fics centered around the actual Sonic characters to try and strengthen my writing skills. Thanks everybody.**


	2. Lazarus Rising

**Lazarus Rising**

"You mean I'm stuck like this?" Rage gritted his teeth, picking the crusted mud off as he cleaned his jet black fur. "Yes, as far as I know." Chaos stared back at the grave, "I'm still amazed you managed to climb out without suffocating. The earth was dry earlier in the day so I had to make it rain particularly heavy this afternoon."

"What do I do now?" Rage said, trying to stay on topic.

"That, mortal, is a question only you can answer." The rain started up again, and Chaos disappeared amidst the haze.

"Damn." Rage glanced back at the grave; he felt his heart lighten a little. He had defied death, or perhaps death had defied him.

"That's just wishful thinking on your part buddy…" Angel said. Ignoring the comment, Rage quickly filled the grave, blending with the darkness around him before disappearing into the night, leaving nothing but the lightning that followed.

"I don't understand, everything was fine an hour ago." The yellow fox ran his fingers through his bangs; a process that, unlike the experiment in front of him, hadn't changed in the last twenty-four hours. Tails carefully grabbed the ends of the paper and wrapped the failed products before disposing of them in the incinerator. Letting out an exasperated sigh, he wrote down the chemical combination, list of materials used, and the procedures performed along with other important data from the project. Tails clicked the light switch and walked into the bathroom exhausted. He tossed his dirty gloves in the hamper he kept for just that purpose and washed his hands in the sink. The fox retrieved his drink from the kitchen which had finished boiling about twelve minutes ago and sipped at his tea/milk mixture. Adding cinnamon sticks when boiling was required, but he always liked to add a little honey to sweeten it. Tails sunk in to the warm comfort of his old, patchy beige couch which also served as a pull-out bed whenever he had visitors.

He hadn't pulled out the bed in three long, depressing years; the events of which he suspected to be the culprit behind his intellectual stagnation.

The clock ticked away tirelessly, never stopping, all its little gears and knobs twisting away in a constant circle. Turning back to the television, he considered reaching for the remote, but decided against it as there would be nothing but "Hero" worship on nearly every channel. The newspaper had long since been removed from his list of pleasant activities and past times and now he was left with a shelf full of old encyclopedias, fix-it manuals, Daily Mech magazines-which had been discontinued by the way, and other reading material he had already gone through hundreds of times and were now gathering a nice thick coat of dust. Settling for a classic tale of "One Thousand and One Arabian Nights" Tails flipped open his favorite story of a fisherman and a genie. fifteen minutes passed and when Tails finished he set the book down and rubbed his eyes. Looking to the clock mounted above the header to his kitchen he took note of the minute and hour hands as they rested on the twelve exactly aligned with each other. He had to do a double take to notice that during the time he had spent on the book the hands had not budged a bit. Not even the hand that marked the seconds that passed.  
>"Tsk, batteries are dead again." He groaned. It was weird, of all the modern updated furniture and technology inside the house, that clock was the only thing that was older than him. He even had numerous nuclear clocks, why did he even keep it? He could just simply make a digital clock that was more efficient, accurate, and longer lasting then that old thing. It was pretty much useless.<p>

Tails got up and placed his cup in the sink when a small sound almost like a chime tickled his ears. Walking to the end of the stairs, he was teased again by the increase in volume from the noise. It was definitely a chime…followed by a cackle. As he reached the top he could see the light at the end of the hallway. The chimes and cackles were getting closer. Tails walked further down the dimly lit corridor. The chimes were getting much more profound…and familiar…like he had heard it before years ago.

Tails reached the end of the hallway and noticed a grainy wooden door next to the lackluster lamp which flickered slightly from wear. Surreptitiously laying his hand on the handle, he could feel a cold spot surrounding him.

"CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Tails swung the door open.

"CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Cymbal Monkey?" Tails stared in confusion. The toy rested completely still, its deceiving gaze resting in no apparent direction and always followed by its malevolent grin. As if discovering the toy wasn't strange enough, the house began to shake. It started out as a vibration, but grew to a violent rumble. Tails ran out of the room and streaked down the hallway, stumbling from the quakes, ignoring the flickering light that was going berserk and diving down the next flight of stairs and making for the workshop.

Tails was about to make for the front door, but when he saw a crack of lightning flash across his window he backed away and reached for the desk resting against the wall that ran perpendicular to the door. Another quake shook him from the desk and he stumbled to the left to maintain his footing when another quake forced him to pivot on his left and fall on the ground with his back against the wall.

"Go away!" Tails screamed, showing, if only for a brief moment, a hint of bravery. The cowering form wrapped his tails around his body in a futile attempt to repel the spirit. The quakes and lights intensified greatly for a brief moment, blinding all five of his senses for several moments before the house returned to normal, and everything was calm.

Tails poked his head out from his tails relieved to find the light had dimmed and . The lamps were lit, the room was organized, and the shaking had stopped. When he opened his eyes he almost choked at the sight. "Y-you-yo-you're-" Tails stuttered against the wall of his living room, terrified and amazed at what stood in front of him. "Alive?" a black hedgehog hopped off the couch upon which he was perched and raided the fridge for a meal; his manners were as scarce as ever. "Yep, and kickin' too…" he grinned.

"You got anything to eat around here besides this?" he gestured at the green puree he plucked from the fridge; a viscous, smoothie like substance that made his stomach flip from its appearance. It looked like blended bits of broccoli and...God knows what else. Rage assumed that Tails was on some kind of health kick and popped open the lid, taking a dab with his finger and licking the substance. As expected, the flavor made his poor taste buds protest in disgust; something he should have expected after smelling the liquefied...stuff.

"I-I I don't understand, you should be dead…" Tails slowly stood up, somewhat uncertain that he wasn't dreaming. "It's impossible. There is no logical explanation, scientific or religious that constitu-"

"Blah, blah, blah." Rage turned towards the fox, grabbing a banana as he left the kitchen. "Look, I'm breathing, I'm moving, and I am alive in every sense of the word. As far as I'm concerned, I've been given a second chance." Rage said deflecting the oncoming rambling. "I don't know why, I don't know how, but for some reason, I'm here." he tossed the peel in the garbage. "And I'm starving. Can we please get like a Burger King or something?" he grabbed a mint candy from the bowl on the coffee table and fumbled with the wrapper.

"At least let me run some tests first before we do anything. This has got to be some kind of modern miracle." Tails snatched the candy and pinching the ends of the wrapper, untwisted the ends in annoyance, "Are you serious?" he groaned popping the candy in his mouth. "Don't kill me or I swear I'll haunt you." The hedgehog warned.

The two headed into the garage and Tails set up an operating table for Rage to lie down. Tails then hooked up a heart monitor and laid out a series of medical syringes on the tool trolley. "I hope you're not afraid of needles…" Tails grinned taking one of the empty syringes and injecting the needle, drawing blood from the vein. Then trading the blood sample for another syringe with a green liquid, he injected it into the same vein. "What does that do?" Rage asked straining to see his veins press against his skin. "It's a formula that detects any anomalies or foreign substances in your blood." Ten minutes later the test results came in. "Well, everything appears normal for an anthro. It seems you're just our average, garden variety…undead hedgehog."

"Well, good to see nothing's changed." Rage joked hopping off the operating table. "Wait." Giving the results another once over, Tails noticed a strange anomaly. "Your DNA has changed." This caught the hedgehog's attention. "What's DNA?" Tails did a double-take, "Don't-don't you remember biology classes in high school?" the answer was a flat out, "No."

"Anyway…it says that your cell production cycle is half the rate it used to be." He thumbed through the results, checking for any other abnormalities. "How do you know what my cell division rate used to be?" Tails went over to a filing cabinet and leafed through until he stopped on one of the folders. "Three years ago you blacked out from a fight and we brought you into the garage for medical care. Or at least, what would pass for one." He explained, "Nothing's as effective as a regular hospital right?" he flipped past the pages until he found the results from the tests. "Let's see, uh, heart rate, blood work, neurology, ah, cellular function. N.R..: 15.2, C.D.C.: 15.2, the stats are twice the normal rate." He placed the results from both sequences next to each other. "But when you compare these with the results from just now, the Neuron Responses are 7.6, and the Cell Division Cycle is 7.6." Rage looked over the results, unable to make head or tail of either. "So what does that mean?"

"Neural Response is the amount of time it takes for the Neurons in your body to recognized there's been damage and send signals to the brain which then sends messages back to repair the wound. Cell Division is simply the process of the red blood cells clotting the wound to prevent further blood loss while the skin cells repair themselves and close up the wound." the hedgehog stood there about to give up. "In English?" he beckoned. "It means your mundane like the rest of us. I think it means that you're really back from the dead. I'm guessing that only the Chaos Emeralds can help us here." Tails closed the manila folder and fed it back into the cabinet before walking back into the living room. "Something like this is biblical. Not even science can rationalize or explain how this could even happen. Turning to religious texts, whenever something like this happens, there's almost always a lack of humanity. I don't know if that's the same case with you, but before you died you already had a distorted sense of humanity..." Tails explained. "What are you trying to say that I'm a heartless bastard?" Rage replied defensively. "No, but typically, someone with your behavior most likely went through some form of desensitizing. This is common with Marines, Armed Forces, and G.U.N. Agents as they are required to not feel much shock to cruel or distressful images and scenes."

"My father was an ex-Marine. He trained me exactly as the Marines trained him before he disappeared. I went into active duty for a typical four year contract as soon as I turned seventeen." he admitted.

"That's not possible, you're only twenty-one right now, the only way you'd be able to serve all four is if the events of the Big Flash never happened and you never died." Tails took a seat next to the hedgehog, still curious about who exactly this guy was. "That's the other thing," Rage continued. "My birth records are a year ahead. I'm actually surprised nobody noticed."

"That brings up another question." Tails remarked curiously.

"Who names their newborn child something like Rage?"

There was a brief pause after the question where Rage gave the fox a, "Did you really just say that?" look before chuckling lightly.

"Hey don't ask me, I missed that board meeting."

"So you don't remember?"

"No, not really. I get the feeling it was supposed to be a nickname, maybe because of my eyes. When I was born my mother said that my eyes were a bright red the very first time I opened them, like orange and red flames contained in glass circles, but when I had stopped crying and opened them again they turned green. I also used to get a lot of shit from kids in my first year of high school because of my, 'Anger issues'. Believe me you aren't the first person who's asked me that."

Tails stood up from the couch, walking over to the computer. "But that would mean you never served a full contract." Tails pulled out a drawer under the computer desk and reached inside. "So that's it? Nothing else?"

There was a brief pause, a moment where the last statement seemed more and more threatening the longer it went unanswered. "Nothing you need to know at the moment." Rage laid down against the armrest of the couch, hands behind his head.

Rage grabbed a piece of peppermint candy on his way toward the door, wondering how he would grow accustomed to his new lifestyle. "_No powers, back from the dead, something's going on..._" he thought to himself, "_So what now?_"


	3. House o' Munch

**CHAPTER THREE**

**House o' Munch**

"I wonder what Rouge picked for us to watch tonight" murmured a young woman. "If I know her it's probably something vainglorious like To Catch A Thief..." They both laughed at the notion of Rouge's ego-stroking movie playing while she outwardly agrees with her likeness to the female character.

Two girls walked together to an undisclosed location. Carrying three paper bags overflowing with groceries of various kinds. Mostly foodstuffs and the like. One would wonder how women could possibly stay fit with all the junk food consumed on such nights as these.

The two walked casually toward Michiana Avenue, passing the many office buildings, skyscrapers, and high rises as they droned on in a monotonous cycle of grays, reds, tans, and...more grays. Carrying on in her old fantastical ways, Amy sometimes wondered why she lived in such a boring environment, but then she remembered all the fun places that came with it. The hustle and bustle of the city, and the diverse culture. There were so many things to do and places to go and people to meet, she didn't know where it stopped and where it began. Come to think of it, she kind of missed the solitude and isolation of the Mystic Ruins. Maybe it was just a sense of nostalgia washing over her but she longed for the days when she would run around like a senseless and hapless little school-girl chasing after anything her heart desired. Including one fairly ignorant but irresistibly handsome blue hedgehog.

"AMY!"

"Huh?" Cream giggled at the, "Deer in headlights" expression that crossed her friend's face as she was shaken from her thoughts. "God, I swear it's like you never grew up!" Cream, the now eighteen year old rabbit shook her head making her ears flop about. She had come to resemble her mother more and more in the passing years. "If I hadn't said anything you probably would have walked right into a-Amy?"

The hedgehogette stopped again and stared off into the distance, only this time her head turned to the right. Across the intersection, she saw something too strange to ignore. An all too familiar sight, a two-tailed fox heading into a nearby burger joint.

That wasn't the strange part, however, Tails was known to run on junk food whenever he was working on a big project. Unless Cream came over to cook something healthy and tasty every now and then and restock his fridge the kit would eventually have to roll himself to town for a bite to eat. What was strange was who was with him. A gaunt, almost wiry looking black hedgehog. He was in his socks, which were torn and had a few holes in them and fit loosely on his feet. Amy could see a minor depression in his stomach. If it weren't for the likeness she would have mistaken him for just another homeless anthro. There had been a lot of those in the years that had passed. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that he looked all too familiar. Without warning, Amy took off toward the burger shop, handing Cream her share of the groceries they had just picked up. "Ah-Hey! AMY!" Cream struggled to juggle the extra bag while holding on to hers as her friend took off toward the burger shop. "God...That bitch is crazy!" She grumbled taking off after her crazy bitch friend.

**Inside the shop...**

"I'll have one of everything..." The human girl at the register looked at Rage like he was crazy, Tails shot the hedgehog a similar look. "What?" Rage looked at the fox with an honestly clueless expression. Tails shook his head and turned to the girl, "Sorry Tabby, he's uh, not from around here." The fox fibbed. Tabby cleared her throat before placing Tails's new order. Tails pulled out his smartphone and passed it across the small black pad fixed into the counter. The two sat down in a booth by the window, the perfect spot for a teeny pink stalker.

**Back outside the shop.**

"AMY! Stop! you're acting crazy again!" Cream called after her. "Again?" Amy almost stopped upon the last word. Maybe she should see somebody about that. "Nah," she shook the thought from her head and continued down the road filled with anticipation and curiosity. "If I were going to do that I would have started by now." The pink menace reached the shop and ducked beneath the window where the two were sitting, peeking her head out just enough to get a good look.

"Amy, c'mon, Rouge is waiting for us." Cream wheezed as she finally caught up to her.

"Shh! Get down Cream, you're going to get me caught!" Amy snapped, urgently motioning Cream to do as she was told with her hand. "I wonder what they're talking about..." Amy murmured to herself. Slowly turning towards Cream, she wondered if she could get her to use her large ears to listen in on the conversation. "Cream...?" The rabbit looked at her for a moment wondering why she was smiling at her so weirdly. "No-NO. Amy, I'm not going to be a puppet in your little spy game."

"Please!" she begged. "No!" Cream argued.

"Darn." the pink menace whispered.

Amy stood up and started to walk away with a sigh, "Oh well, I guess we'll never know what it was Tails wanted to tell me about you the other day..." she whispered just loud enough for Cream to hear. "He said something about me? What was it?" Amy grinned from behind but kept her body language the same.

"Huh, oh, it's probably nothing, he was just asking me what your favorite restaurant was or what days you had off work but I don't recall, I wasn't really listening."

Cream stifled a shriek and bent down behind the wall alongside Amy.

"Well, maybe they're talking about it now..." Cream suggested still kneeling on the grass behind the wall. "I don't know," Amy replied, "Do you really think that's what it is?" Cream smiled inwardly at the thought of Tails going on and on about how amazing and cute and wonderful and pretty and perfect she was. "Maybe..." Cream whispered. "Well, I guess we could give it a try." Amy replied.

**Back inside the shop...**

"So, do you remember anything before you, um, gained an extra life?" Tails leaned forward on the table, eager to hear the hedgehog's reply. "Eh," was all he got.

"So, nothing at all?" Apprehensive about admitting any details, Rage sipped at his drink, poking the little bumps on the lid while chewing the straw. "I do remember one thing, the images are pretty fuzzy but I remember something about an old house of mine that I used to live in up in Windswept Plains." the image of an old farmhouse made of red oak surrounded by tall grass appeared. The image was unfocused. The front of the house had some spots of discoloration, almost black and gray. He didn't know why, but something about that memory made him feel uneasy, almost like he was not in control...but of what? What was he so afraid of from the past that he was not being able to control now? It was strange, interesting, but strange...and scary.

"Anyway that image keeps popping up in my head every so often, I can't figure out what it means." Rage said leaning back in his chair and popping a fry in his mouth.

Tails stroked his chin in deep thought. "Maybe it's your subconscious trying to tell you something. The subconscious brain communicates to the conscious by means of images, emotions, memories, and various other descriptive codes. It's possible you might have some unfinished business in Windswept Plains." Rage tried communicating with Angel, "Whatcha think? Is there anything to it?"

"If there is then it's so far repressed in to your mind that even I can't recall it." Angel replied. wishing he knew more. "Do you want me to see what I can dig up?"

'If there's unfinished business in that zone then returning there and finishing said business could mean passing on.' Rage thought. Was he ready for that? Did he want to move on? What lies beyond? Where would he go and what would happen to him? "It's best for me to not risk it. Considering the mysterious means by which I've returned…" the hedgehog's thoughts trailed off, unsure he wanted to finish that line.

"We'll worry about it later, right now let's focus on why I've lost my powers. Or at the very least what I'm supposed to do now that I'm back..." Rage replied to Angel, zeroing in on the current matter. "So what am I supposed to do now that I'm back?" Rage asked remembering the brief and cryptic conversation he had with Chaos. "I don't know," Tails leaned lazily into the plastic couch clasping his hands as they rested on his engorged belly. "Since Eggman took over Station Square-"

"-Wait, WHAT?!" Rage sat bolt upright in his chair. "What do you mean Eggman won?!" he cried, beginning to draw attention of those around them.

Tails smiled sheepishly at the patrons, giving them a small, embarrassed wave of his hand. "Rage, calm down!" Tails glared, whispering at him with gritted teeth.

Rage leaned further into Tails, half-sitting in his chair. "I will NOT calm down!" he whispered loudly. "You mean to tell me that I DIED for NOTHING?!"

"It wasn't for nothing Rage!" Tails replied, trying to calm him down.

"It sure seems that way!" Rage interjected, slamming his fist down on the table, causing the silverware to clatter.

"Rage!" Tails barked, pulling a stun gun underneath the table.

Rage gave the fox a sideways look, hearing the hammer being pulled back with a discreet click. "Your eye is turning red..."

"He's right Rage, look." Angel added. looking at the window behind Tails, He could see the fiery circle reflecting off the glass.

"But-I, I wasn't even that mad..." Feeling himself shaking slightly, Rage looked around the diner. Everyone had gone back to their own business, but every so often he caught sideways glances from other customers.

Tails slowly released the hammer of his stun gun, tucking it away in his large, bushy tails. "Your death didn't mean nothing, Rage." the fox continued. "It sparked a worldwide rebellion movement to prevent Eggman's plan for world domination. Unfortunately Eggman is taking a political stance now, something that we've never had any experience with. So we don't how to fight it. We'd need evidence of a conspiracy for starters. But even Rouge had trouble two years ago trying to gather case evidence from his last base. He's practically a model citizen. Donating to charity, giving blood, providing advances in technology...We don't have an angle." Tails took one last bite of his burger before throwing out his trash. "He's almost mayor now."

There was a brief silence between the two. 'Well it's better than an enslaved populace, performing endless mindless tasks of physical labor. Instead it's more of the same, but, different. Rage thought.'

"Do you ever think maybe you're just here to live a normal life?" Tails suggested. "This could all just be a coincidence."

"Told ya." Angel cut in. To be honest the thought did cross the hedgehog's mind. But somehow he had the feeling it wasn't that simple.

"Still, it's as good a place as any to start..." Angel chimed in once more. "Yeah," Rage went back to thoughtfully chewing his straw. "Maybe..." but deep down he knew something was horribly wrong. What's dead should stay dead. he knew first hand how unnatural it would be if things were any different.

**Thirty minutes later...**

The two walked for what seemed like hours, neither of them daring to break the fragile silence that befell them the moment they knew who Tails was getting so chummy with. Cream spoke first, "So...That-was-interesting." Amy continued down the path to her girlfriend's house more affected by their discovery than Cream.

**Flashback**

"You're not getting anywhere near that thing." Amy proclaimed. She launched herself into the air and punched the demon in the ribs.

"You're going to regret that." Nitas growled.

"Well see about that." Amy bit back. Nitas launched himself at Amy and tackled her to the ground. "You really think you can do something don't you?" Nitas chuckled. "You don't even know how to kill me."

"So you CAN be killed can't you?" Amy smirked.

"I guess you are smarter than you seem."

Amy threw him off of her, breaking their hand-lock, rose to the floor and flexed her wrist, summoning a massive hammer. A scowl formed as she held her position above the demon, who was briefly surprised by her immense strength.

Nitas had strange scabs and burn marks where flesh used to be. The second layer of skin was a sensitive pink. Amy tightened her fists and pummeled the demon, being sure to target the scabs and soft fleshy parts with her mallet. Instead of drawing blood however, the skin just stretched around the blows, absorbing the impacts almost like rubber.

"Hahahahahaha!" his laugh sent a chill through her spine. "Its just metal! It doesn't do anything!" he grinned.

Amy gritted her teeth. "Fine. Let's see what this does." Amy tightened her grip on the hammer before placing the mallet's head high above her and launching it at the one place she was sure could hurt any jackass. Between the legs.

"ARGH! Bitch!" Nitas cursed turning over to clutch his boy parts. Freeing one hand, he thrust it into the air summoning a pillar of stone which knocked the pink hedgehog away and rose to his feet during her hang-time before kicking her further into the air which sent her flipping wildly out of control. With no way to stop her ascent Amy prepared for her inevitable descent into the ocean bed.

She continued to spin rapidly until she abruptly came to a stop. "Impossible! I can't fly." she looked at the cracked ocean bed, which she was sure she should be knee deep in by now.

"But I can."

Amy looked up to see her savior holding onto her by the back of her dress. The look in his eyes made her feel like she was in the presence of a lion who's family had been caught by poachers. A look only seen one other time, a look reserved for only one other girl.

"Get to safety sis, it's going to get really ugly." Rage sent a current of Chaos Energy running down his arm and Amy disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing behind a ruin.

Nitas looked up toward the sky to see his golden counterpart had finally arrived. Great, just when unlimited power was within his grasp. These people were like frickin cockroaches. When you squash one another runs the other way. But that thought was whipped away as Rage's fiery red glare met Nitas' own. The demon actually felt a bit fearful from being under his watch. It was intense. And it showed no sign of going down. His facial features were almost neutral. Rage's lip was straight for the most part except for a very slight downward curve. But it sent the message. Rage was all soldier now; and

He.

Meant.

Business.

Scarlet crouched in a tree not far from where Amy was. And she saw the look in his eyes as well. Anyone could tell you that you were in trouble when someone screamed in anger at the top of their lungs before attacking you. It was bad enough knowing you were in for an ass-kicking. But when someone stands still without uttering a word? That's when you know that there's something wrong. That's when you know running won't help. That's when you know you've done it. She knew what he was capable of.

"Nitas." Rage called out to his counterpart.

Nitas hadn't even completely turned away before he was struck full in the face by a bolt of lightning. Rage flew right in front of him and jumped on top of Nitas landing with his knees on the demon's abdomen. Going in for the finish, Rage raised his hand which was covered in stone and sent it down.

If only it were that easy.

Nitas grabbed the fist and redirected its path toward the ground beside him and twisted the wrist trying to force Rage in to submission.

Rage flipped along the twist preventing any injury or aforementioned submission.

Nitas struck the hero on the chin with his palm. "You're a fool to come back."

Rage flipped back on his feet and side-kicked the demon in the stomach. "You're a fool to think that I wouldn't." Rage tossed a fireball followed by several finger bullets. Rage then propelled a gust of wind to speed up the velocity of the attack. Nitas dodged each one successfully. "Pity. I might have let them live a little longer if you had stayed away."

"Your bloodshed ends here and now." Rage proclaimed.

"Oh, I don't think so. In fact, I think it's just beginning." Nitas grinned menacingly. without warning, the monster lashed out with a controlled explosion from his palms sending Rage to the ground. Scrambling to his feet, he searched the field for his but instead found the team of fighters kneeling and bound in front of him. "Nitas let them go." Rage barked.

"Oh, what is that?" He put a hand to his ear as if to hear more clearly." Is that…Begging that I hear?" he paused. " look at that everybody, your new buddy reduced to grovelling. The indestructible, impervious, Rage The Hedgehog asking me to show him leniency?" he chided, "When the great Rage, has shown ME…nothing but prejudice and intolerance?"

"I will never be reduced to begging." Rage remarked.

"Who wants to play "Who's the fastest thing alive?!" Sonic mocked as he spin dashed in to Nitas's face. The hero bounced off and landed on a broken pillar. "I win." he grinned. Nitas struck a pose, and another pillar of stone escaped the earth, sending the hedgehog skyward. Nitas took to the sky, prepared to attack, but Sonic was quicker and curled into a ball, looping around the demon and striking him full in the back. Nitas was about to strike back when Rage appeared behind him and curled into a ball as well, attacking Nitas from all sides. Sonic curled into a ball again, and began attacking as well. The two hedgehogs battered the other hedgehog relentlessly until they were sent back by a gust of wind generated from Nitas.

Turning toward the cobalt crusader, the hedgehog dive-bombed with a fist charged with electricity and unleashed a powerful punch that sped up Sonic's descent. Speeding up again, Nitas flipped around and kicked the hedgehog in the stomach, making our hero one with nature. Sonic struggled out of the small crater, not two seconds later was Nitas on him again, punching him in the face repeatedly. The blue blur nearly lost consciousness, at which point Nitas set Sonic down next to Amy and bound his wrists in cuffs of cobblestone. "Look at that Amy, you and your boyfriend finally get to go on a date. You get to watch my show-stopping performance of complete and total planetary destruction!"

Nitas rose from the battle-worn hedgehogette; but not before Nitas was once again interrupted by his counterpart. "Don't you ever get tired of being wrong, Nitas?" Rage looked into each and every pair of eyes.

Fear, terror, fatigue...

The same look was present among his own features as well. He had to end this, soon. Nitas was getting desperate, and when he got desperate, things got dicey. Not to mention how dicey it was already. Nitas looked at the hedgehog dead serious, reveling in the panic he was causing. In his sick, twisted mind he loved the riveting feeling of having the ability to tear someone apart by taking what was most important to them.

"Eenie, meenie, miny, mo," he traced his fingers along the necks of each of his hostages. "Who will be the first to go?" Nitas ended his singsong rhyme on one of his victims. Sonic. The bastard landed on Sonic.

"Nitas stop. You're being ridiculous." Rage pleaded, trying to reason with him.

"Oh, you'd like that wouldn't you? To save the most renowned hero on the planet. To avoid being blamed, yet again, for his death."

"Aw, you're making me blush." Sonic teased.

'_Damn hedgehog! Shut the hell up!_' Rage thought.

Nitas backhanded the hedgehog viciously. "Shut up!" he snapped.

Nitas drew a breath, putting a smile back on. "I almost forgot," he chuckled, "you're still wanted for killing him in the first place aren't you?" Nitas continued as his claws extended to a gruesome twelve inches. "Oh boy, are they going to be mad when they find you've done it again!"

"Today just isn't your day is it?" Nitas dragged his claw along Sonic's shoulders. "No, I don't think that begging will do you much good." He stopped in back of Sonic. "No, I think that in order to save what matters most to you…"

He positioned his hand…unbeknownst to Rage.

"You have to be willing to make a few…SACRIFICES!"

"NO!" Rage cried out. With the last word Nitas thrust his claws through Sonic's flesh, piercing the other side of his body. A mix of screams was heard as the cobalt hero dropped lifelessly to the ground, his blood pooling out and staining the grass with its precious liquid.

Tails, Amy, and Knuckles watched with the same horrified expressions on their faces as their best friend who always seemed to smile in the face of danger, and near-certain death, now lay still with a look of surprise. The wounds from the individual claws spurted blood from his body. His eyes were frozen in the same terrified expression when the attack was delivered. Nitas licked the blood off of his claws one by one. "Delicious…" he grinned.

"You monster!" Rage screamed. Wisps of smoke billowed from the ground around him. "I'll kill you!"

"Oh don't act like I'm so different from you. We're one and the same, remember?" Nitas tapped his head with a claw.

"I'm nothing like you!" Rage cried in defiance. The smoke wisps began to thicken as the golden color of his fur grew brighter.

"Are you sure?" Nitas laid on the doubtful inclination as he strolled from side to side. "Think about it. Don't you feel the urge, the need to kill? The desire?" Nitas picked his teeth with a claw as though he was without a care in the world. "How do you know you're not like me? What makes you so different?"

"_Who let 'X' out? Someone put him back!" _A voice commanded. Rage had a vision of a green flickering screen with an outline of a hedgehog body. Next to the body were some numbers and letters. Rage guessed that these indicated the status of said hedgehog. He blinked his eyes to re-focus on the objective.

"Let them go now!" he demanded.

"Aw, but I'm having SO much fun." Rage watched to see who Nitas was going to take out next. Tails? Knuckles? Amy? Scarlet? "How does it feel?" Nitas continued. "Knowing that the very lives of those closest to you are in danger, and you powerless to stop me?" Nitas gestured with his hands.; as if performing an interview with a celebrity. "You can control everything...Earth, Wind, Fire and Air," he continued. "But you cannot control who lives and dies, here in this moment...and isn't that what you fear the most? Lack of control? Losing everything, to pure, uncertainty?"

Out of pure impulse, Rage lunged toward his devil ego in a futile attempt to stop his bloodshed. But Nitas was quicker and wrapped his arm around Tails's neck and holding a claw against his jugular vein. "Ah, ah, ahh. One more step and Miles here dies a slow, messy death." He grinned. "I just love watching 'em squirm don't you?" He couldn't help but just laugh in delight at the idea of cutting the fox and watching his head loll and lap up the delicious blood as the leftover liquid ran through the grass, adding volume to Sonic's collection of blood which had saturated the ground where his body lay. Tails looked up in terror, his eyes wide with fear. "P-please, d-don't kill me." He pleaded. Nitas directed his gaze. His heartless, soulless gaze, down at the poor fox. "Now, now, That's all up to your so called friend here. Now, tell me. What are you willing to do, to escape death?"

"Tails don't listen to him." Rage said trying to gain control over the situation.

"Tell me Tails, are you willing to do what it takes to save your own life?"

"Tails…Look at me." Rage said calmly.

Tails tore away from the poisonous stare and slowly looked to the only person who could possibly save any of them.

"Remain calm. I promise that I will get you out this. Just relax." He said trying to keep Tails under control when he could barely control himself. Sweat coated his forehead and the buzz in his head was growing incessantly loud. "Angel, what the hell is that noise?" Rage winced. "I'm not sure, but I hear it too. it's actually more like a mini-quake in here." Angel replied as the buzzing slowly turned into a deep rumble. "Angel..."

"Yeah?"

"I-I'm scared..."

**End Flashback**

Amy shook herself out of her trance at the behest of her friend.

"Amy! Snap out of it! For God's sake you almost got run over!" the squad car in question pulled over, a humanoid robot emerging from it, dressed in black and white with what looked like a half-circle helmet as it's head. "You are in violation of curfew, return to your quarters immediately or else you will be detained for suspicious activity." came a threatening and monotonous voice. Amy groaned, "Yes officer, we are returning to our designated address and will remain indoors until 6:00 AM at the latest." Amy replied. "Thank you for your concern. We hope that you continue to serve and protect the city of Station Square and all it's inhabitants." Returning inside it's vehicle, the patrol officer resumed its usual route and left the girls to their Girls' Night Out.

"Do you think we'll ever see Sonic again?" Amy wondered at the unlikely possibility of seeing her blue hero perched above a viewpoint or running through the streets of Station Square again. "We see him everyday Amy, just not the way you'd imagine." it was true what Cream said. Since the events of the Great Flash, Robotnik had finally achieved his dream of Eggmanland. It wasn't exactly what they thought they were fighting against. Eggmanland in Amy's mind was an Overlander's Paradise, complete with many industrial factories spewing smoke into the atmosphere, creating platoon, after platoon of robotic enforcers. Instead what they got was actually a more militant lifestyle. Now everyone had curfew, security was everywhere, transportation had become more efficient, and new laws had come in to effect. Strict laws, but efficient laws nonetheless. Amy hated to admit it, but as dumb as that Egghead was, he knew what he was doing. Sonic, however, that was a tragedy all its own. One she still couldn't accept.

"I know, I just wish I could have the old Sonic back." she murmured.

"You can't keep living in the past, Amy..." Cream advised, "He's gone now. Eggman won, and the best we can hope for is to not end up on the "Missing Persons" list like him and every other Mobian who has actually gone 'Missing." She continued. "You know as well as anyone else what happens when you stick your neck out."

**Mystic Ruins, Tails' Workshop…**

"You can stay here for now," Tails said showing Rage to the guest room. "Until you're able to scrounge up enough cash to get your own place. You should probably know, since Eggman took over, there are very strict laws in Station Square about Mobians walking around the streets past curfew. If you manage to swing a job that requires you stay out past curfew, you can go down to the city hall and request an exemption form. They'll help you."

"That's fine and all, but I can't exactly show my face around there. Odds are my name and details are in the system, I'd need a fake identity." said Rage. Tails paced back to the door. "I know somebody who may be able to help you with that. But it's going to cost you quite a bit. You'll be in a lot of debt for a while but he's got a layaway plan. I might be able to cut a deal with him and get you a discount. Just, don't try to screw him over. He knows people."

"I've successfully re-animated his body. You should expect appearances within the city limits in a matter of days." Came a mysterious voice.

"Excellent, I'll send one of our higher ups to stand watch day and night until he identifies him." Came another, more authoritative voice. "Report back to me regularly with updates no matter how insignificant. I want to know what he eats for breakfast, when he sleeps and everything in between."

"Yes doctor."

"You're dismissed."

The doctor swiveled around in his chair admiring the view from his office. Planning, always planning, whatever his next move was, it was fueled by a cornucopia of politically sound intentions.

"_Rage..._" Angel whispered.

"Yeah Angel?" Rage laid down on the guest bed, thinking about where he would possibly find a job in Station Square. If what Angel said was true, then he would need to learn to accept that he was finally leaving a life of violence and fighting for one of peaceful living, or what would pass for one. "_I found something in your subconscious, it's hazy, but...well, you'll just have to take a look at it._" Rage sat up, ready to absorb the new information. "Good, show it to me."

"I also found something else." Angel continued.

"What?"

"A name..."

"Who's name?"

"Your name."

**END**


	4. Home is Where the Heart is

"_Somebody may beat me, but they are going to have to bleed to do it." - Steve Prefontaine_

**A/N: This Chapter has elements in it that are close to me so if there's anything you don't like about it don't be rude. **

**Home is Where the Heart is**

"Ugh…" Sam struggled to a sitting position, unable to gauge where he was or how he got there. Everywhere he looked he saw darkness.

Then...two doors. Sam stood still for a moment. Then, with rising trepidation he laid a gloved hand on the door to his right. Thrusting it open, a bright light blinded him, causing him to recoil at the sudden change. Stepping through, Sam was met with what could only be described as a dream.

Two kids played in the front yard of somebody's house. A white house. There was a white pickup truck and a black, boxy SUV baking in the sun. The children ran around spraying each other with water guns, throwing water balloons at each other, and occasionally taking control of a small plastic car powered by tiny little feet. Every so often one would try and finagle their way to the garden hose, pretending it was like a flamethrower.

Sam ducked to avoid a water balloon, way off course, and turned around to see nothing but white, not even a mark of where the balloon landed. "What the-"

"Kids! Lunch!" a lady called out. Sam took note of all the kids who were still tossing water balloons and spraying each other, clearly not hearing the mother call out to them. "Sarah! Sam! come and eat!" she called again. This time the children raced to the screen door which led to the dining room. Sam followed them around the back, still unsure of everything that was happening. "Angel...whe-where am I?" a confused Sam called out, hoping Angel was still with him.

"It's, one of your memories." the entity grunted with distress. "It's not important right now. We need to find a way out of here."

"Why don't we, why don't we just stay here for a while...it's so...familiar..." Sam replied.

"We have to keep moving Sam. We need to get back to the real world." Angel was beside himself, uneasy about their current location; a behavior that was very unusual for him. "We need to get back to the real world."

"But I like it here Angel, all my friends are here..." the hero begged. "I miss being here."

"Sam..."

Turning around, the image had been reduced to nothing but white. No friends, no water gun fights, nothing. It was as if it never happened. "Wait, where did everyone go?"

"This is as much as you can remember about this day Sam. Now please, we have to go." Angel urged. "Wait, there's more..."

"Sam, please don't torture yourself."

Sam turned to watch more of the memory, but it faded away before it could start. Turning abruptly, he begged Angel to help. "Take me back! I want to go back!"

"We can't go back Sam, this memory is too distant."

"I want to go back!" the hero cried. his appearance now more childlike than adult.

"We CAN'T go back! Don't you get it?!" Angel barked. "It's not real Sam! None of it is!"

The child stood there feeling many things, afraid, but most of all, heartbroken. He couldn't go back anymore, what did that mean? What would happen to him next? Where were his friends? Sam felt a hole sink into the center of his stomach; like something was being sucked out through the back. Something important that one could not properly function without.

"But..." the little hedgehog's lip started to quiver, tears threatened to spill past his eyelids, unable to control his emotions anymore, the child started sniffling, rubbing his eyes to wipe away the tears that were starting to pass over his cheeks. "I want...my friends...where's Sarah? Where is Mrs. Lynx?" Sam muttered. The hole in his stomach grew wider. The same sucking feeling was growing stronger like a black hole being overfed.

Sam whimpered, crouching into a huddled position, and wrapped his arms around his legs, staring vacantly at the ground in front of him. Where a childlike sparkle once rested behind his eyes like all other children, they were dead. Just like that. The hedgehog felt strange, corrupted somehow, like a bad computer program. "I wanna go home…" Angel turned around, placing a hand on his hip and rubbing his sinuses with his fingers. "Home. It's a bad idea Sam..."

"...I wanna go home..."

"...I know kid."

"..."

Sam shot up from his bed, cold, sweating, and clammy. The hero rasped as he gulped in breaths of conditioned air, taking his panting down to a steady resting pace. Sam looked at his hands and noticed they were trembling slightly. "Angel? You there?" Sam called. There was a long pause during which Sam feared that Angel might have disappeared.

"Yeah Sam, I'm here." the conscience replied, a bit melancholy. "So….That. Was. A Thing." Sam stumbled for words, unable to process what had happened. "Was that a dream or a memory?"

"I'm not sure." Angel replied, still not in the mood to talk. "Did-did you bring up all that stuff there?" Sam questioned, putting on his shoes and gloves. "I've been feeling a lot different since we we're pulled back from the dead. I'm not sure what's happening to us." Angel replied. "Sam, I think we should go home."

"But...you just said..."

"I know what I said. I still think it's our best shot at getting some answers about what that dream meant or why you're even back from the dead."

"So then that wasn't a dream..." Sam replied, his voice trailing off into the night "Actually, I think I need some time to myself." Sam suggested, waiting for Angel's objection. He didn't hear anything, so he stepped outside the door.

"Rage! Just the guy I was going to see." Sam turned to see Tails coming down the hall carrying an old hardcover book, decorated in arcane symbols and writing.

"Tails, listen I-"

"Hey! You're never going to believe this, but I think I've found an explanation for your being here." Tails turned around and headed back toward the living room, assuming that Rage would follow.

"I did some research on inexplicable happenstances like yours, and came across a link that explained how there were very few unexplained cases of deceased coming back to life. They suggested a book that would be better able to explain the situation and help us resolve it!" the young fox exclaimed, patting the cover of the strange volume in his hands. "It was actually pretty hard to find."

Tails set the book down on the coffee table with a resounding thud, and the two sank into the couch and the book, ready for some investigating. "It says here, that in cases involving the dead rising, it can mean a number of things, but in cases where the body hasn't decomposed, and the born again individual has not undergone any indiscernable changes since the moments before death, it's possible that the reaper who collected the individual's soul, did not completely traverse the realm between worlds, with the soul."

"So that means I'm missing my soul?"

"Exactly." Tails continued translating a passage from the manuscript. "If the host is alive with no major change, then it is a missing soul and nothing else. If ignored, the body will begin to decompose at the rate it would have during death until there is nothing left but the re-animated skeleton. The sentient energy that powers the host will begin to dissipate until the skeleton is reduced to that of a ghoul. Ghoul: an evil spirit or phantom, especially one supposed to rob graves and feed on dead bodies. Helping an absent soul pass on requires a seance or purification of the host by a holy figure. The host must be invited onto hallowed ground for this process. Should the host attempt to step past the threshold of hallowed ground without consent, they will be instantly obliterated. The soul will then be trapped in the realm between worlds until savagery turns it into a demon at which point it will descend to hell to do the devil's bidding." Tails paused at the end of the sentence, shocked by the punishment of a soul for not passing the realm between worlds.

"So that's it? I'm just going to turn into a monster?"

"Well, hang on, it says here the Realm Between Worlds known as _Inritus_..." the fox butchered the word, trying to pronounce it correctly.

"Inritus, what does that mean?" Rage asked, counting the seconds until he could leave the building. He began to feel that sucking feeling in his stomach again and desperately needed to get away. Trying to ignore it he focused on the task at hand: Retrieving his soul before he decomposed into a ghoul.

"Inritus, The-The Void. I've heard about this place. During one of our adventures Sonic almost died, we brought him back, but afterwards I had begun studying supernatural events and locations."

"So?"

Tails thought for a minute, putting a finger to his chin. Sam stared intently trying to figure out what he was thinking about. "So….Since you are back from the dead, with no major changes so far..." Tails jumped up from the couch, returning to the computer and typing away at the keyboard.

"Wa-Tails! What about this Void thing?"

"I'm working on it. But I need to return to the bookstore and see what they have on reapers and post mortem processes." Tails tossed Sam a phone and earpiece. "Keep those on you in case something comes up." Tails grabbed a shabby and battered hoodie, tucking his tails beneath the back.

**Later that night...**

"Hey," a sweet voice picked up her cell and put away the crayons and markers that were strewn across the carpeted floor. "No I'm fine, the kids are all gone now so I'm just cleaning up and I'll be back in twenty minutes."

"Okay, I got a surprise for you when you get back!" her boyfriend exclaimed from the other end of the line.

"Okay baby, I love you!" she giggled and blew him a kiss before closing her handheld with a clap. "Oh for Christ's sake..." Scarlet traversed the room dotted with tables and chairs and bent down to clean up the spilt milk with paper towels she had retrieved from the cupboard. "Kids….I'm not looking forward to that." She muttered as the puddle shrinked and shrinked. Scarlet stood up and tossed the paper towels and milk carton in the trash. Grabbing her coat, she did one last check before turning out the lights and locking the door behind her. Striding down the empty hallway, she removed her scarf from her coat pocket and draped it around her neck. The red hedgehog pulled out her phone and checked the weather for tomorrow, wondering if it would call for rain or high winds. Her heels clacked against the pavement while she made her way past the iron gate of the school. The moon was covered in a light mist, producing the halo effect she loved so much.

Turning down the street, she checked behind her for any thugs who might have been following her. She missed being able to walk down the streets of Mid-Town Station Square without fear. Before Eggman took over, everything was so peaceful and calm. What was now a tense and endless venture from work to her condo was once a peaceful and calming walk where she could look up at the sky and see the moon like she did now, without hearing gunshots or screams from the southern section of Mid-town.

She hated having to work so close to the southern part of Station Square now. She feared for her life and the lives of the children she oversaw during the day. Most nights she was tempted to take them home herself. If she could defend herself against an overpowered demon bent on world destruction she could handle a few thugs trying to take her money or anything else they might want…._right?_ Turning down another street, Scarlet traversed the crosswalk at the corner, butterflies stirred in her stomach as she tried to ignore the foreboding alleys between the buildings. Not more than halfway through than did the police come barreling through the streets at top speeds, lights flashing and sirens wailing forcing her to take a dive to the curb. Scarlet took a sharp breath at the prospect that she could have died just then.

Crossing the rest of the way, she walked down the last block and hurriedly fumbled for her keys. Reaching for the door, she jumped when they slipped through her fingers and jangled against the pavement. Wasting no time, she picked up her keys, fumbled with the lock, and ascended the stairs to her condo. The hedgehog checked her watch, it was fifteen past ten. She slid down the wall, thankful the police didn't stop when they passed her or god forbid a mugger take advantage of her key fiasco.

"Excuse me miss,"

"Aah!" she shrieked almost hitting her head against the ceiling. "What the hell is your problem man?!" Scarlet pushed her bangs out of her eye in a huff, "Don't you know not to sneak up on a girl in the middle of the night?!"

"We're in a well lit hallway..."

"Well-just-stop being stupid." the stranger in question opened his mouth to say something smarmy but hesitated, "I'm actually just here to ask a favor of you." he offered an envelope to her addressed to someone she hadn't seen in years. "Tails?" Why would a fifty something hedgehog want to contact a fox his age?

"I'm barely 39..." the hedgehog replied getting more offended. His sharp, cool eyes flared at the school teacher. "Eep!" smiling sheepishly from her inadvertent comment. "Look, it's very important that the recipient of this envelope passes its contents onto my son. He's currently bunking with him from what I've heard." The stranger ignored her outburst, offering the envelope to her again. "Okaay…." anxiously, she took the envelope and placed it in her purse, hoping that the hedgehog would be satisfied and go away. "Thank you. That's all I need. Remember, it's very important that he gets that package. We wouldn't want anyone going missing over a lousy letter right?" he chuckled. "Wait, what?" The creep was already halfway down the hallway by the time she looked up from the letter, "Oh nothing, have a nice night Scarlet." he replied waving off her suspicions and strutting out the door. Scarlet sighed, tired of dealing with the day's stress, and swung the door open to her condo.

"_**Surprise!"**_

Several Mobians jumped out from large pieces of furniture around the room, causing Scarlet to drop the keys she was holding. "God, enough with the goddamned surprises already!" she cried stomping her foot against the carpet. The room fell silent while the partygoers just stood there looking at her with their slightly offended, somewhat confused stares. One of the Mobians walked up to her, concerned, "Hey, hey, what's going on? You sounded so happy on the phone...what happened?"

Pushing a bang out of her eye, Scarlet let out a workday's worth of stress in a single breath. "I almost got caught..." She searched her boyfriend for his response. He pulled her in for a comforting hug. "You're safe now, okay?" he kissed her forehead, reassuring her of her safety. "That's all that matters." Scarlet sighed, with such a caring boyfriend she would never be in any real danger.

Knock on wood.

**Station Square… after midnight.**

Station Square looked quite organized at night. There were very few citizens out and about, and even less as the night went on. But where Sam was, there was not a soul in sight. The only noticable presence there were the street lamps and window displays of each different shop. Makeup ads and wristwatch ads dotted the street with models both men and women alike. Sam walked this street alone, thinking many things a hedgehog such as himself would think, but everything came back to that dream. He was uncomfortable with himself even now. He felt naked, and kept checking around him for any potential attackers he might need to fight off or run away from, the latter which he preferred. Sam could only assume the feeling of vulnerability would go away the sooner he recovered his soul. But until then he'd need to make sure that nobody would notice his vulnerability. If they did, that could only spell disaster for himself and possibly Tails. With Sonic gone Sam would need to continue looking out for him. Even though Tails seems to have matured quite a bit since Sam was laid to rest. It was only at that moment that he realized that the entire Sonic team was no longer a team anymore. Sonic was dead, Knuckles probably severely paralyzed from the fight with Nitas, and who knows what happened to Amy and Shadow. And it was all his fault. If Sam had been able to keep a better grip on himself Nitas probably never would have manifested. If he was a little bit stronger, or if he had acted a little faster, all of this never would have happened. But why did he care? Shit happens. He didn't even know the Sonic team until they interfered with his mission. That stupid-ass Amy had to bring him to the hospital.

"Screw you Amy. You and your friends." he thought to himself. "You all make me sick." hundreds of thoughts raced through the hedgehog's mind. Each one a life or death scenario focusing around his resistance to help them when the time came.

"Sam!" Angel snapped.

"Wha-?" Sam broke out of his maleficent thought patterns at the behest of his angry alter-ego. "How can you think such things about the Sonic team? You'd probably be-"

"Be what?" Sam interrupted, "Dead?" Angel steamed in silence at Sam's interjection. "We died anyway Angel. Them saving me only prolonged the inevitable."

"Yeah, well still, you don't treat your friends like that." Angel replied bitterly.

"Whatever. You're just upset cause you don't like hearing the truth about the world." Sam argued.

A flash of red light out of the corner of his eye interrupted Sam's argument with Angel. He looked down the road and saw a red hedgehog surreptitiously gazing into something he was holding in his hands. "Angel are you seeing this?"

"..."

"Fine, fuck you too." Sam retorted at the alter-ego's silence. Sam took a step toward the red hedgehog when his ear started beeping.

*****_**Beep, beep!**_*****

"What's up Tails?" Sam whispered, even though he was thirty feet away from the red hedgehog.

"Rage, I couldn't find anything at the library, no surprise there, but I did meet somebody who was able to shed some light on this situation of yours. I told him about your problem, and he said that your soul is not only missing, but it's most likely been tampered with."

"I don't understand."

"Not only are you missing your soul, but it's been split into several pieces. Since you had just lost your superform at the end of your fight with Nitas, the emeralds hadn't left you yet; however, right as the Emeralds left your body, your soul was already being reaped," Tails exclaimed, more excited by such a fascinating find then concerned about Sam's condition. "Since the Emeralds operate by fusing their wavelengths with the wavelength of the user's mind and body, they matched the wavelength of the soul almost exactly. So that means-"

"That my soul had been split into seven different copies at the exact moment it was pulled from my body." Sam replied, finishing Tails's sentence.

"Right, but here's the thing. You came back. If that's all it was you would have stayed dead, which means-"

"Something interfered with the process, severing the connection between me and the reaper before I had crossed The Void."

"More like someone." Tails corrected. "Interrupting such a process requires a great deal of knowledge. Primarily around the supernatural world and supernatural rituals."

"So somebody we know had a reason to bring me back and used a ritual to do so."

"Right, but again, here's the thing: there are no rituals that I know about so far, which include bringing the dead back to life without their soul. So whoever did it, didn't do it right, and the soul was not returned to you, but instead, each of the seven pieces took off somewhere into the world. And since the Emeralds made nearly exact copies of the original, they manifested their own bodies to house those pieces until they can be re-united again. But those pieces now have their own free-will and personalities modeled after each Emerald, so it won't be easy to recover all of them."

"Got it, Thanks Tails, I'm already closing in on what I think is the Red one."

"Be careful Rage, Those doppelgangers of yours, depending on the Emerald they're associated with, might be very dangerous. And if I remember correctly, you don't have any powers anymore. Not even the naturally occurring proteins that helped you with regeneration and recovery. Wait, did you say you're closing in on the Red one?"

"Yep, gotta go."

"Wait! Rage!-"

Sam hung up the phone and continued walking down the street toward the train station.

"Hey! Dances with Jewels!" Sam shouted. "You have something of mine!"

"Well, well, If it isn't our fearless leader." the doppelganger replied pocketing the Emerald.

"Who are you and where did you get that Emerald?" Sam demanded answers as he pointed a finger at the hedgehog.

"Oh, um, in order...Up yours, and none ya business."

"You've got ten seconds to answer me correctly before I pump you full of lead."

The red hedgehog's eye's flared a familiar red as he roared at Sam, "Are you threatening me?!"

"Yes! I am!" Sam bellowed back whipping out War and Famine.

"Oh ho ho, that's right, I forgot about those guns of yours."

"Yeah, I bet you forgot about War and Famine too." Sam replied cockily. "You still haven't answered my question."

"Hm. The name's Prometheus. But everybody calls me Matthew. You, can call me your undertaker."

"Hm, cute."

Firing off a shot from War, Sam raced forward to take down Prometheus. who had already raised a wall of intense flames, melting the bullets away before they could make contact. Matthew strafed to the left, and fired a volley of increasingly large fireballs from his hands.

"Even if you beat him, how do you expect to collect his soul?" Angel asked, finally speaking to Sam again. "I thought we were playing the quiet game..." Sam bit back harshly. "You can't argue with a jackass, I guess." Angel replied. "Right now I'm betting on the power of friendship." Sam replied with mock enthusiasum. Prometheus took to the sky, immersed in fire, and divebombed Sam who took off in the other direction at less than supersonic speeds. His feet pounded against the pavement as Prometheus made contact with the earth, sending out a large outward blast of fire, forcing Sam to take cover behind an apartment building.

"C'mon Sammy!" Matt taunted, "You know, if you can handle the heat, you should stay in your grave!"

Drawing out Famine, Sam popped out from the corner, and fired off a bullet, which grazed Prometheus's shoulder.

"Aah!" Prometheus wiped away the blood, inspecting the wound. "That's it?" he scoffed. "That's a lovetap coming from someone like you." Thrusting his arm forward, Prometheus summoned a fireball in his mind, but what he put out was a few wisps of smoke instead. "Wha-What the he-"

"Meet my right hand man, Mr. Undertaker," Sam interrupted, waving Famine in front of the red hedgehog. "Deemed Famine, capable of permanently disabling someone's abilities." Sam smiled knowingly. "Still feeling tough?" Sam teased.

Prometheus growled as he bent his knees and glared daggers into the ground. Bringing his hands together, he formed a strange sign just below his chest. Twisting his upper hand, Sam could feel the area surrounding the two of them heating up. A haze began to develop around the red hedgehog.

"Sam..." Angel spoke with rising panic.

"Yeah?"

"Get to cover!" Angel cried.

"What? Why? his powers are-

"NOW!" Taking over, Angel sprinted behind the corner of another building diving to safety just as Prometheus released an outward blast of fire, engulfing everything it touched and scorching the walls of the surrounding buildings. Sam struggled to push himself over, facing the sky. Since when did he get winded so easily? That hasn't happened since…

"Wake up sleeping beauty, He's coming around!" Angel barked. Sam peeled himself off the road and snuck into an alley taking in large gulps of air. "Since when are you able to possess me?!" Sam exclaimed, remembering the brief moment where he lost all control of his actions. "Since the day we first discovered each other. But until now I've never had reason to do so. With your powers gone I have a feeling it will be the one thing you can depend on in a fight. I'm faster to react and counter-attack."

"If you're so much better than me why don't you take him down?" Sam bit back angrily.

"Are you officially relinquishing executive functions to me Sam?"

"...Yes. Until I say so." Sam replied.

Golden aura enveloped the hedgehog's normally green irises, signifying a change in character. Brandishing The Commander and The Strength, Angel burst forth from the alley, and launched The Strength at the building adjacent from the hovering red hedgehog surveying the streets. Prometheus strafed the attack, grinning at the grave mistake Angel had made.

"Angel you idiot! He has an angelic blade now." Sam groaned. "I know, I gave it to him."

Prometheus removed the sword from the building with a great tug, and glided along the ground toward Angel, prepared to cleave him in two. Angel in response, stood there and waited. Prometheus closed in on Angel and attacked his midsection, but missed. Unable to see, he flew straight into the building behind Angel, crashing.

Sam observed in awe. "How did-" Prometheus wiped the soda from his eyes, opening them in time to see Angel drop the empty cup from his hand and aiming War and Famine directly at him. Straining himself, Prometheus freed his left arm from the crater, just in time for Angel to shoot a charged bullet from Famine into his left shoulder.

"Didn't you learn Sam? That pea shooter can't stop me." Prometheus grinned as he tried to toss a fireball from his left arm.

"Fine, hit me." Angel replied leaning in to Prometheus.

Prometheus thrust his arm, and immediately recoiled in pain as the wound continued to bleed profusely.

"Even if you wanted to, there are two reasons you can't fight back." Angel explained stepping back. "Reason number one: You're shoulder has been immobilized from the bullet, So even if you wanted to, you couldn't fire anything at me. The rest of your body is still trapped inside that crater you made. Reason number two, Famine, as explained earlier by my alter-ego, takes away the target's powers. So if you weren't immobilized, you would be nothing more than a normal Mobian, and a normal Mobian is no match for my swordplay." Angel finished, holding Famine at Prometheus's head. "Now, while we're here, why don't you explain to my buddy how to re-unite our souls together." Angel ordered. The golden aura disappeared from Sam's eyes, returning both the original color and character to their original places.

"Sam, huh?" Prometheus grinned. "Fine, Grab the Emerald in my quills." Sam let his aim slacken, almost fooled by the hedgehog's tactics. "Wait, you get the Emerald yourself." Sam replied, moving forward only to take back The Strength. "If you insist." fighting the pain, Prometheus reached back with his injured arm and pulled the Emerald out. The moment he did, his wound pushed out the bullet and closed up, no scab, no blood, no scar, nothing. Prometheus tested the arm, before pushing against the building and freeing himself from his prison. "Your time's up Sam!" Prometheus launched a volley of fireballs from his palm, before taking off after Sam, who weaved his way through the alley again, and backtracked to the train station.

Prometheus curved through the alley in pursuit, catching a glimpse of Sam's shoe as he passed the corner of the alley and into the street. As soon as he passed the threshold between the two buildings he was blindsided with a pipe and knocked off course. As soon as Prometheus skidded to the ground, losing both the Emerald and his balance Sam whipped out War and Famine and fired two uncharged bullets into the red hedgehog's shoulders.

"You're beaten Prometheus, hand over the Emerald." Sam demanded, firing a charged shot into the doppelganger's Solar Plexus. "If instinct serves me right, a shot to that area should greatly increase the nullifying effect of Famine's bullets." Sam bent down to eye level, letting the two apocalyptic sidearms dangle in his hands. "How do I re-unite our souls Prometheus?" Sam asked lifting the chin of his doppelganger with the nozzle of War. "I have to be killed." Prometheus heaved, trying to stave off death with each labored breath. "Well isn't that convenient..."

"_Beep beep!_"

"Yeah, Tails?" Sam answered, irritated by the high pitched beeping.

"Rage, where are you?!" Tails asked, alarmed. "It's two hours past curfew, if the police find you they'll open fire on you!"

"What?!" Sam fixed his gun on Prometheus again. Making sure he wouldn't move.

"You need to haul ass back here before you're discovered. Either they'll shoot you or take you to prison or you'll be-"

"I'll be there in 20, Let me just take care of something first."

_*Clink*_

"Hold that thought Tai-Aah!" Sam staggered back, covering his left eye and fired off a couple of random shots, hoping to hit Prometheus who had disappeared from the ground, along with the Red Emerald. Nothing but a puddle of blood and rubble where the hedgehog once lay obstructed the sidewalk. Sam looked up to the sky and saw a speck of flickering light travelling West past the train station. Sirens sounded in the distance, growing louder as the police grew closer. Sam bent down at the pile of rubble, searching for any clues that could lead to more information on his opponent.

"Sam, there's no time. We'll find him again. Don't worry."

"I'm not worried."

*_**Thunk!**_*

**Finally got Chapter Four up. Tell me what you think. Bloodrunner Tourney is still a go I just need to organize my thoughts and create a common goal or purpose for the story besides characters fighting each other. Bye.**


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